BigCommerce Gives Brands Full Control of Ecommerce Checkout Experience with New Checkout SDK

AUSTIN, Texas – September 10, 2018 – BigCommerce, the leading ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established brands, today announced the launch of its Checkout JS Software Development Kit (Checkout SDK), a new JavaScript library that makes it easy for merchants to consume BigCommerce’s Checkout APIs. Combining built-in PCI compliance and advanced customization capabilities on a SaaS ecommerce platform, Checkout SDK provides ecommerce brands, agencies and developers the ability to fully-customize every pixel of the checkout experience to their unique specifications. In addition, BigCommerce announced it has partnered with Bolt and Moustache Republic to provide BigCommerce merchants alternative checkout experiences custom built using Checkout SDK.

According to a 2017 study from the Baymard Institute, 28 percent of US consumers ultimately abandon checkout due to an experience that was too long or complicated, and another 23 percent abandoned their purchase because of an inability to calculate the total order cost upfront.1 With Checkout SDK, BigCommerce merchants are no longer beholden to a predetermined checkout flow, but are able to adapt their experience as necessary while still preserving out-of-the-box PCI compliance.

With Checkout SDK, ecommerce agencies and developers looking to build a custom front-end checkout experience will benefit from significant new features, including:

Custom checkout capabilities. Developers can now add custom features to the checkout page of BigCommerce stores, such as alternative one-page checkout solutions and streamlined checkout flows.

Customization of every pixel. Brands and ecommerce agencies can define every pixel of the checkout experience, without any constraints over the presentation layer or customer experience, providing customers a cohesive experience throughout their entire purchase journey.

Business logic management. The BigCommerce Checkout SDK handles all of the complex business logic powering an ecommerce checkout, enabling merchants to focus on creating a look, feel and shopper experience that matches the company’s brand vision rather than worry about the heavy lifting.

Automatic feature updates. With customizable solutions built on top of the Checkout SDK, merchants need not worry about ensuring that their checkout remains up-to-date. All new BigCommerce checkout features and payment gateways will be added to the SDK, making it easy for merchants to update their custom checkout with the most current feature set.

“Checkout is one of the most valuable parts of a merchant’s online presence and determines whether a sale is made or lost, yet merchants have never had full control over its design or functionality due to the added complexity that accompanies the experience,” said Jimmy Duvall, chief product officer at BigCommerce. “An out-of-the-box solution works for some but others require something truly bespoke, and we want to make sure merchants and developers have all the robust tools they need to create unique, high-performing checkout experiences.”

Using BigCommerce’s Checkout SDK, partners Bolt and Moustache Republic designed solutions that address more sophisticated use cases. With Bolt, merchants can now offer a single-click checkout experience to returning customers. Optimized for both web and mobile devices, Bolt Checkout has been shown to speed up the average ecommerce checkout experience by 35-90 seconds, driving a lift in checkout conversion for brands like Kettlebell Kings.

“With BigCommerce’s Checkout SDK, BigCommerce merchants can now take advantage of Bolt Checkout without investing in additional developer hours, giving them access to Bolt’s hyper-optimized checkout interface and precision fraud detection out of the box,” said Kazuki Nishiura, head of integration engineering at Bolt. “BigCommerce and Bolt have been working closely on this seamless integration, and we’re excited to bring our track record of 10-50 percent revenue lift to a growing number of retailers.”

Moustache Republic further streamlined the checkout process with a single page checkout that allows merchant customers to review their order and input all account details and payment information from a single screen. Designed specifically for enterprise merchants that have sophisticated checkout customization requirements, Moustache Republic’s single-page checkout offers a secure, highly-configurable solution to ensure a checkout experience that matches a customer’s site expectations. Earlier this month, Moustache Republic launched the first live implementation of a custom checkout built through Checkout SDK on Yellow NZ.

“Yellow is going through a complete digital transformation and bringing a whole new set of services online. Like most businesses their size, the company has a complex set of ecommerce requirements that can’t be solved by out-of-the-box solutions,” said Tony Hou, managing director at Moustache Republic. “As a long-time BigCommerce partner, we knew the BigCommerce platform had the flexibility to accommodate both the customized single sign-on and checkout experiences Yellow desired, without requiring a huge investment. Features like Checkout SDK are just another way the platform allows agencies to customize a SaaS solution for unique business needs.”